The New Zealand Art Research & Study Centre (NZARSC)
The New Zealand Art Research & Study Centre (NZARSC) houses a growing collection of books, catalogues, theses, periodicals, archives, images and ephemera, largely built through an active exchange programme with other institutions and from donations by current and former university staff, students, artists, collectors, curators and art historians.
Through the NZARSC, researchers can also access the physical archives of the Adam Art Gallery and the Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection.
The NZARSC is located in Old Kirk Building, Room 312, adjacent to the Adam Art Gallery office, on the Kelburn campus of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. It is open by appointment Monday to Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm. Drop-ins welcome but will be subject to availability. Drop-ins please check in at the Adam Art Gallery office, Room 314.
For information and to schedule access, please contactann.gale@vuw.ac.nz.
Special collections contained in the NZARSC include:
Course material compiled for every Art History course taught at Victoria University between 1995 and 2019, hard copies of most MA and PhD these and Honours research essays completed by students since 1996, and over 40,000 slides used for teaching from the 1990s to the early 2000s.
Associate Professor Roger Blackley (1953–2019) was an eminent curator and art historian specialising in 19th-century and colonial art who taught in Art History at Victoria University of Wellington between 1998 and 2019. The NZARSC contains files and slides relating to his research into 19th-century New Zealand artists, historical and contemporary books, catalogues and journals on New Zealand art and history.
Jenny Harper was the inaugural associate professor at Victoria University of Wellington’s Art History Department from 1995–2005. The NZARSC holds files relating to the decade she spent teaching, reflecting her special interests in the contexts of art (especially the history of the National Art Gallery (now Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand), her research into transgressive art and art scandals, her teaching and curatorial work on contemporary international artists, and the establishment of the Adam Art Gallery.
Periodicals, catalogues, newspaper clippings and other material relating to independent art historian Gordon H. Brown’s research and writing in the 1960s to 1980s.
Books, catalogues and journals on New Zealand art and artists gifted by Wellington contemporary art collectors Jim Barr and Mary Barr.
Flyers, invitations and related materials sent to Luit Bieringa, former Director of the National Art Gallery (Wellington), by art galleries and museums from throughout New Zealand in the period c. 2000–2018. These items are integrated into the artist/gallery files that are a feature of the Centre.
NZ Centre for Photography Gift
An important research archive on the history of pictorialist photography compiled by photographic historian William Main who amongst other things established Photoforum NZ and the New Zealand Centre of Photography, deposited by the Board of the Centre when it was disbanded.
Books and catalogues received through the Adam Art Gallery’s publication exchange programme with galleries and institutions throughout New Zealand.